


Lost Cause

by Lady_Akuma_Wolf



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Depression, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Missing Scene, Other, Pre-Series, S02e12 Mac + Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 18:57:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13507752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Akuma_Wolf/pseuds/Lady_Akuma_Wolf
Summary: "Don't you know a lost cause when you see one?!" Jack snarled, his face twisted in what could only be described as agony as he tried to shove the young EOD tech away from him.Mac stared calmly back at him, seeing through the words to the meaning underneath.





	Lost Cause

**Author's Note:**

> Jack's face and tone when he said "Don't you know a lost cause when you see one?!" made me feel there was more than just the current situation, something deeper. This fic is the result of that.
> 
> Trigger warning: mentions of suicide idealization.
> 
> I probably have the timeline screwed up, but oh well. In this Riley is just starting her stint in Supermax. Jack and Mac do another tour before returning home to work for DXS, and then starts following the canon timeline.

"Don't you know a lost cause when you see one?!" Jack snarled, his face twisted in what could only be described as agony as he tried to shove the young EOD tech away from him.

Mac stared calmly back at him, seeing through the words to the meanings hidden underneath. Jack had more than once mentioned getting back to Texas, but he never once mentioned getting back to someone. No parents, no siblings, no lovers, no one he thought would miss him, or mourn his passing. He had mentioned loving a woman, and her teenage daughter, but never really went into the details of how that got broken off. But he could tell how much he missed the two women, no matter how much he pretended he had moved on.

It was in that instant that Mac saw just how close to rock bottom the older man was.

It was then he decided that once he got the two of them out of their current situation he would do whatever he could to save Jack from himself, including telling him about someone he had left behind.

OoOoO

"Don't you know a lost cause when you see one?!" Jack snarled, seizing the stupid EOD's jacket and shoving him towards the exit as hard as he dared, given he was kneeling on a trigger for a bomb which would kill them both soon enough without him moving unless the stupid kid didn't clear out of there  _now._

"No."

"It's too late for me." Jack said. "It isn't for you. Get outta here!"

"No."

Jack felt himself starting to panic. It was one thing for him to give up; wasn't like he had much of a choice. He couldn't exactly get up and walk out of there, or drag the stupid kid out of the room and to safety. Hell, it would save him the bullet he played with every night, contemplating where he would best put it to silence the darkness and pain in his head, to banish the ghosts which haunted him whether he was awake or sleeping. He was surprised given everything he had been going through here in this sand-covered hell-hole that he hadn't caught a bullet or a knife yet. Even guarding an EOD specialist, he had half-expected to get blown up at some point or another. 

But it never happened.

Then there was the day he got paired with Angus MacGyver, the slowest EOD he had ever had the misfortune of being paired with, a fact he complained about on a daily basis, if not more. But under the cover of sleepless darkness, he had to admit the kid knew what he was doing... until the day he refused to let him die.

"Will you just  _go_  already?!" Jack growled when Mac made it plain he wasn't going to let him die. "Do you  _want_ to die, kid?"

Mac's only response was to tell him to be quiet as he gave the bomb a good once-over, following the wires to the plate Jack was kneeling on and back to the timer, which was now hitting one minute.

"Mac,  _please_ , go!" Jack begged, chest heaving as panic started to set in. "I'm _ordering_ you to clear the Hell outta here!"

"And I'm ignoring that order." Mac retorted, pausing his examination to glare at the older man. "You're not going to die today."

Fifty seconds.

"Yes, I am!" Jack tried to seize Mac's jacket again, but found he was just out of reach. To his embarrassment, Jack felt a tear prickle in the corner of one of his eyes. "Please, Mac." he begged softly. "Leave me. Don't you die, too."

Forty seconds.

"I'm not letting you die, Jack." Mac said firmly, his pocketknife out as he got ready to cut what he thought - hoped - was the correct wire. He hadn't seen a setup this strange before. "You're going to live and go home to Texas."

"There's nothing to go home for." Jack whispered hoarsely.

Mac paused. "You mentioned a woman you were dating, she had a teenage daughter." 

"Riley." Jack still felt horrible about leaving them. The girl was obviously troubled, and he had wanted so badly to help her. But his presence just seemed to make it worse, especially after the 'incident' with her father.

He always made things worse. And now he was about to be the reason Mac died; he might as well have put a bullet in the kid's head himself.

That realization made Jack sick. He was supposed to protect the kid, not kill him.

Thirty seconds.

"Go home and see them." Mac told him. "I think they'll need you soon. Especially Riley."

That caught Jack off-guard. "What?"

"Riley's being sent to a Supermax in California." Mac said, snipping a wire. "And her mother has vanished."

_That_ threw Jack off kilter, making him briefly forget the impending explosion. " _What_ _?_ " he demanded, the protective rage flaring in his chest. "What happened?"

The beeping grew louder. The frown on Mac's face deepened.

Twenty seconds.

Panicked, Jack shouted, "Mac, get out of here! Go!"

Mac didn't respond or react, eyeing the remaining wires as if his life depended on it.

Which, technically, they did.

Choosing another wire, Mac closed his eyes, and cut it.

The beeping stopped.

Thirteen seconds, and holding.

Mac sighed with relief, collapsing into a sitting position. "You can move now."

Jack didn't care if it wasn't manly. He crawled over to Mac and seized him in a tight hug. "You stupid, stupid kid!" he growled. "You should've listened to me! I told you to get the Hell out of here!"

Mac snorted, snaking an arm out from between the two of them and patting the other man's back. "You're welcome."

Finally releasing the younger man, Jack joined him on the ground, eyes staring at the digital '13'.

A man he thought he hated - on principle, especially after the kid messed with his weapons - had just risked his own life to save him. If he had cut the wrong wire... Jack would have been dead.  _Mac_ would have been dead.

"Why wouldn't you listen to me?"

Mac made a face. "Because just like you watch my back, I watch yours, especially when bombs and IEDs are concerned."

Jack still didn't understand why the boy hadn't fled and saved his own skin. Fight or Flight response must be lacking in the stupid kid's head. He didn't know whether to be grateful or angry.

He settled for both.

"Next time you disobey, MacGyver, I'll shoot your ass and throw you in the brig!"

Mac merely snorted. 

"I aint kidding! I'll do it!"

"Sure you will." Mac smiled.

Jack settled for glaring before he remembered Mac's earlier statement. "Riley. You said she was being taken to a Supermax? What the Hell happened?!"

Mac shrugged. "When you mentioned her, I got... curious. I made some calls. She got caught hacking the NSA."

" _What?!_ " Jack shouted, his jaw hitting the ground. "How? Why?!"

"She wouldn't say." Mac replied. "Right around the time she got caught, her mom vanished."

Fear and worry clawed at the back of Jack's throat. "Something happened to Diane?"

"I think the two are connected." Mac said. "I think Riley set up a new identity for her after someone forced her to hack into the NSA because they threatened her mom."

It made sense, in a sick way. He knew the kid had a talent for computers as well as sticking her nose in places it shouldn't be. Looks like her talent had improved since he had left them. It also looked someone had noticed her talents, and decided to make use of them. So either she wasn't as good as they thought, and she had messed up and allowed herself to get caught. In the Supermax she wouldn't be allowed anywhere near anything that even closely resembled a computer, so for now, she was safe.

But finding a way to help her...

it gave him a reason to survive. He would stay and protect Mac; he knew there was a top-secret agency scouting the kid for when he tour was up. As luck would have it, it was based in California. He would find a way to go with Mac, keep watching his back. Sooner or later - but hopefully sooner - there would be a case where they would need someone with Riley's talents. Then he could get her out of there, and keep her safe.

He would keep the kids safe, no matter what.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?


End file.
